ESMA publishes list of supplementary deferrals for sovereign bonds

ESMA and all NCAs, except the National Bank of Slovakia (NBS), have decided to allow the following supplementary deferrals: for trades of a medium size on liquid bonds in Group 1, the publication of the volume may be omitted until the end of the trading day. 

The supplementary deferrals should start applying on 4 May 2026.

Background

As these decisions concern sovereign bond markets, which are critical and specific to each EU Member State, it was necessary to conduct consultations with the relevant regulatory bodies and financial institutions to arrive to a common approach. 

The consultations resulted in a short time between the publication of the deferrals list and the start of the new regime on 2 March 2026, potentially causing implementation issues for trading venues, investment firms and Approved Publication Arrangements (APAs).

Therefore, a sufficient implementation period should be provided. In addition, to ensure a consistent application of the transparency regime, supplementary deferrals should apply from the same date, regardless of any differences in the timing of individual decisions adopted by Member States (for sovereign bonds issued by Member States), and the ESMA decision (for other sovereign bonds).